Swansea finally subdue Middlesbrough with Scott Sinclair match-winner

Sunday 14 November 2010 14.53 EST
First published on Sunday 14 November 2010 14.53 EST

Wales has never had two teams in the top division but, 30 years after John Toshack took Swansea into the Promised Land, the principality has never been so close to dual representation.

Cardiff are level on points at the top of the Championship, the Swans are third, and both are in a rich vein of form after a profitable weekend. Whisper it softly on the other side of the Severn Bridge, but this heady Welsh progress is founded on the efforts of two English strikers.

Jay Bothroyd's 15 goals in the League for Cardiff has taken him into Fabio Capello's latest squad while Scott Sinclair's matchwinner today, his 12th in all competitions for the Swans, sees him join up with the England Under‑21s tomorrow morning with confidence brimming.

The margin here should have been much more clear cut. Brendan Rodgers, Swansea's young manager, is trying to sign a striker before the end of the month, under emergency legislation, and it was easy to see why. Against relegation-threatened Boro, they created more opportunities than any job-seekers scheme, but it took them 84 minutes to see off their obdurate opponents, with further evidence that the well-travelled Sinclair is finally fulfilling his promise.

The Swans have lost Marvin Emnes, the scoring hero against Cardiff the previous week, whose loan spell has expired, and his replacement here, Craig Beattie, looked understandably rusty on his first start of the season. The burly Scot, signed from West Bromwich Albion last year, had made just 14 first‑team appearances in as many months, and will need a few more to regain optimum effectiveness.

Boro have improved since Tony Mowbray replaced the unlamented Gordon Strachan as manager. They arrived buoyed by successive wins, and will clearly be much more difficult to beat under Mowbray's shrewd, no-nonsense direction. That said, Swansea fashioned half a dozen chances in the first half, when Sinclair and Nathan Dyer were prominent on the flanks, and it was well into the second before Boro required Dorus de Vries to make a save.

To Rodgers's credit, he is playing the same attractive, cohesive football with which Wigan Athletic's Roberto Martínez established his reputation at the Liberty Stadium, insisting that the ball is passed around on the ground, rather than lofted in hit and hope style.

Central to his game plan, literally as well as metaphorically, is the 20-year-old Joe Allen, who is probably the best midfield playmaker to be found outside the Premier League. It was Allen who set up the goal, Sinclair's drive taking a deflection before beating Jason Steele at his right-hand post.

Rodgers said: "That was a big game for us, against an improving team, after losing to Bristol City, and I was delighted with the way we controlled it. We're back on track."